By Willy Leparulo; guest writer
NCTTA Media Committee

Every year that the College Table Tennis Championships are held, there are one or two schools that come to the forefront of the competition as the most passionate, the most proud, and the most hashtag #LoudNProud.

NCTTA has a reputation within the sport of table tennis for increasing the decibel level at any tournament venue they go! Enter University of Massachusetts Amherst, where passion and cheering take on a new meaning.

UMass Amherst will be attending the NCTTA Championships for the 1st time in the program’s history. They qualified in 2020 but the Championships were canceled due to COVID. Let’s take a look at their journey through the eyes of their top player and current coach, John McDermott.

UMass plays in the Northeast Region, which is one of the toughest regions in the country, and, as McDermott says, “It is a dogfight”. Other more established schools have decade-long foundations to lean on. McDermott, after losing a number of top players pre covid, was forced to “Build from within,” and build they did with an armada of passionate, hard training college table tennis players cheering at every point like it was their last.

McDermott also coaches the team and stated, “Effort is my greatest priority, if you put the time in, you will play.” They are a strong community and as McDermott says, “all of the heart and noise is homegrown and developed in uptown Amherst.” Click here to see more what we mean about their passion: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CSMs0U3ArxX/?hl=en

The UMass number one makes one last request, “Put us on center court at nationals, so your live stream can see what we mean.”

The request is noted and forwarded.

Photo credit to Dennis Yanga

About 2022 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Round Rock CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by Double Happiness, Double Fish and Joola.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday April 8th on champs.nctta.org

About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org